


Du warst da, darum hab' ich mich verändert (Und ich hab' mich, denk' ich, zum Bess'ren verändert)

by eafay70



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 01:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10349493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Ava Reus-Durm becomes very close to the lovely woman who owns the local secondhand shop. It isn't all smooth sailing, but Ava is changed for the better.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blue_Night](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Night/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Blue_Night! Ever since a Google search for pictures of Thomas and Manuel led me to this fandom this past summer, I have admired your works: the variety, the detail, the emotions...  
> I joined AO3 not knowing what to expect in terms of friendships with fellow authors. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the impact your friendship would have on me, driving me to write as well as I can and to be an active reader. Thank you so much.
> 
> This fic takes place in the same universe as "Sei tapfer, mein Kind" and "Eine Freundschaft zu zweit."

If Ava Reus-Durm were asked to list her favorite places in the world, one place on that list would be a surprise to most people: Tina's Treasure Trove.

Tina's Treasure Trove was the secondhand shop just down the road from the Reus-Durm house. As the name would imply, the shop was owned by a woman named Tina. To put it simply, Ava loved Tina.

Marco and Erik quickly learned that the promise of a visit to Tina was one of the simplest ways to get Ava to agree to go anyplace. In fact, the only places Ava ever asked to go were "home" and "Tina." Sometimes she would ask to go to Tina while she was home! Not even the rule keeping Schmetterling in the house lessened Ava's desire to visit Tina as often as possible.

Every item in Tina's shop had a story, and Tina loved nothing more than to tell those stories to her customers. Whenever a customer told her that her stories were truly wonderful, which all of them were, Tina would smile with a brightness that rivaled the sun. Tina connected with each of her customers personally, listening to them describe their hopes and dreams. Perhaps this was what attracted Ava the most: Tina knew full well that Ava's Papa and Vati were famous, but Ava herself was simply Ava, who dreamed of traveling the world and learning everything there was to learn about people and their cultures.

Sometimes Ava and her fathers would walk into the shop, only to see some other customer deep in conversation with Tina. Ava's face would fall under the weight of jealousy that someone else got to spend time with Tina, not to mention the feeling that maybe she wasn't special to Tina after all. But Tina somehow always managed to find time for everyone, so Marco and Erik taught their daughter to patiently wait until it was her turn.

One day, the Reus-Durm family entered the shop to see Tina wistfully staring at the cash register. "Why are you sad, Tina?" asked Ava.

"People don't want to buy my wares," said Tina quietly. "I love telling stories about all the wonderful items here, but unless people buy the items, I don't benefit. And in general people aren't as happy with the stories. They don't say that they like them - they just nod politely."

Ava's lip quivered. "You can't stop, Tina! You just can't!"

"I'll tell you if I plan to stop, my dear," Tina promised. She gave the girl a hug, which seemed to cheer her up for the time being.

Later that night, Ava held Schmetterling close and informed her fathers, "I'm going to ask for a story every day from Tina! And I'm going to buy whatever she tells me about!"

"You can't force Tina to keep the shop open, Spatz," Marco gently informed her. "She has to do what's right for her. All you can do is show that you appreciate her, which I think she already knows."

"Can't you buy the shop to keep it open?" Ava asked, a tear falling onto the butterfly. "You can buy anything, right?"

This was serious. Ava was aware that her fathers were wealthy, but this was the first time she'd asked them to use their wealth in such a way.

"Ava, it's not our decision to make," explained Erik. "You know that we love you, and you know that we would give you the world if we could. But we can't give you the shop. That would be unfair to Tina."

Ava began to cry a little harder. "But I don't want her to go away!"

Marco rubbed his daughter's back in an attempt to soothe her. "No matter what happens, you'll always have her stories in you. You'll always know that she cares for you very much."

"That's right, Spatz." Erik wrapped his arms around Ava. "Sometimes people leave, like when one of your uncles leaves BVB. But we have the memories, and we have the way they made us better. That'll never change."

Ava nodded silently in understanding. While the shop's ultimate destiny was uncertain then, and would be uncertain numerous times in the future, she knew that Tina cared about her, which was by far the most important thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Wie ich bin," the German version of "For Good" from the musical "Wicked."  
> Translation of title: "You were there, therefore I have changed (And I have, I think, changed for the better)"


End file.
